Charlotte messenger. [volume] (Charlotte, Mecklenburg Co., N.C.) 1882-18??, 1887-09-17

to God. Better 8 bern with Christ q The
Manager than Q cathedral with magnificent
harmonies rolling through the long drawn
aisles and an angel from heaven In the pulpit
II there Is no Christ in the chancel and no
Christ in the robes. Bigotry is often the child
Of ignorance.
You seldom find man with large intellect
who is bigot. It is the man who thinks he
knows great deal but does not. That man
Is almost always bigot. The whole tendency
OF education and civilization is to bring
man out Of that kind Of state of mind and
heart. There was in the far east a great ODE
Iisk, and one side Of the obelisk was white,
another side of the obelisk was green, another
| tide of the obelislr was blue, and travellers
went and looked at that obelisk, but they did
| not walk around it. One man looked at ons
side, another at another side. and they came
home, each one looking at only one side. And
they happened to meet, the story says, and
they got into rank quarrel about the color
Of that obelisk. One man said it was white,
another man said it was green, another man
said it was blue, and when they were in the
very heat of the controversy a more intelIi-
gent traveller came and said: Gentlemen.
have seen that 0belisk, and you are all right
and you are all wrong. Why didn't you
walk all around the obeliskF'
Look out for the man who sees only one
side of a religious truth Look ont for the
man who never walks around about these
great theories Of God and eternity and the
dead. He will be a bigot inevitably-the
man who only sees one side. There IS no
! man more to be pitied than he who has in
bis head just one idea-no more, no less.
More light, less sectarianism. There is moth
ing that will so soon kill bigotry as sunshine
| Gods sunshine.
ii. So have set before you what / con-
slider to be the causes Of bigotry. Ihavs set
before yon the origin Of this great evil
I-.A- Il Il i 81
Of all it crippleS investigation. You are
wrong, and am right, and that ends it. No
taste for exploration, no spirit Of investiga-
tion. From the glorious realm Of Gods
truth, over which an archangeI might fly
| from eternity to eternity and not reach the
limit, the man shuts himself out and dies, a
blind mole under corn shock. 1t stops all
investigation.
While each denomination Of Christians is
10 present all the truths of the Bible, it seems
TO me that God has given to each denomina-
ton an especial mission to give particular
emphasis to some one doctrine; and so the
| Calvinistic churches must present the sOver-
signty of God, and the Armiuian churches
must present mans free agency, and the
Episcopal churches must present the import
lnce of order and solemn ceremony, and the
Baptist churches must present the necessity
Of ordinances, and the COngrega rational church
must present the responsibility Of the indi
vidual member, and the Methodist church
must show what holy enthusiasm and hearty
congregational singing can accomplish
While each denomination Of Christians must
set forth all the doctrines Of the Bible, feel
It is especially incumbent upon each denomi-
nation to put particular emphasis upon some
one doctrine.
Another great damage done by the secta-
, disgusts people with the Christian religion
Now, my friends, the Church of God was
never intended for a war barrack. People
are afraid Of a riot. You go down the street
and you see an excitement, and missiles fly
ing through the air, and you hear the shock
Of firearms. Doyou, the peaceful and in
1ustrious citizen, go through that street,
"Oh, nor you will say, .I'll go around the
block Now, men come and look upon this
narrow path to heaven, and sometimes see
the ecclesiastical brickbats fiying every
whittier, and they say: "Well, guess I'll take
the broad road; if it is so rough, and there Is
so muchs sharp shooting on the narrow road, /
guess Ill try the broad road"
Francis l. so hated the Lutherans that he
said if he thought there was one drop Of
Lutheran blood in his veins he would pune
ture them and let that drop out. Just as long
as there is so much hostility between denomI-
nation and denomination, or between one
protessed Christian and another, or between
one church and another, Just so long men
and say: "If that is religion, want none Of
it."
Again, bigotry and sectarianfsm do great
damage in the fact that they hinder the tri-
umph of the Gospel Oh, how much wasted
ammunition, how many men of splendid in
tellect have given their whole life to contrO-
versial disputes, when, if they had given
their life to something practical, they might
have been vastly useful Suppose this morn
ing, while speak, there were a common en-
envy coming up the bay through the NarTOws,
and all the forts around New York began to
National suicide! Why don't those forta
blaze away in one direction, and that against
the common enemyw And yet l sometimes
see in the church of the Lord Jesus Christ a
strange thing going on-church against
church, minister against minister, denomina-
ton against denomination, firing away into
their own fort, or the fort which ought
10 be ON the same side, instead of concentrate
ing their energy and giving one mighty and
everlasting volley against the navies Of dark
ness riding up through the bayI
go out sometimes in the summer, and
find two beehives, and these two hives are in
a quarrel. l come near enough, not to Be
stung, but come just near enough to hear
| the controversy, and one beehive says THAT
field of clover is the sweetest and an
other BEEHIVE says: THAT field Of
clover is the sweetest" l come in be-
Tween them, and say: stop this quarrel: IL
youlike that field Of clover best. go there; il
you like that field of clover best, go there;
but let me tell you that that hive which gets
the most honey is the best hive.n So I come
out between the churches Of the Lord Jesus
Christ. One denomination of Christians
says THAT field of Christian doctrine Is
best" and another says " This field Of Chris
tian doctrine is best" Well, I say $50
where you get the most honey That is the
best church which gets the most honey Of
Christian grace for the heart, and the most
honey Of Christian usefulness for the life
Besides that, if you want to build up any
denomination, you will never build it up by
trying to pull some other down. Intolerance
never put anything down How much has
intolerance accomplished, for instance,
against the Methodist Churchi For long
years her ministry were forbidden the pull
pits of Great Britain Why was it that 50
many Of them preached in the fieldsl Sim
ply because they could not get into the
churches. And the name of the church was
given in derision and as a sarcasm The CRIT
les of the church said: ''They have no order,
they have no method in: their worship and
the critics, therefore, in irony called them
.Methodistsn
am told that in Astor library. New York,
kept as curiosities. there are 5O7 books and
pamphlets against Methodisn. Did intOlsr-
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